TikTok announces a new platform for brand effects

Today, Monday, TikTok announced a new product, called Branded Effects, targeting companies that market themselves on its short video platform.

And the Chinese company explained in a post on its blog that the program will allow brands to cooperate with the creators of TikTok effects to design custom effects, such as: augmented reality effects and other interactive effects, with the aim of using them in their online campaigns and marketing efforts.

The new product is an extension of TikTok’s existing development platform, called Effect House, which was launched about a year ago. With Effect House, the company has put the tools needed to develop AR effects into the hands of content creators, allowing them to expand TikTok’s existing library of AR effects, which is a competitive advantage for its app.

The package also includes other things that AR effects creators need, such as: templates, tutorials, and documentation that explain how to create specific types of effects, such as clipping, face masking, head tracker, face stretching, 3D faces, as well as how to use textures Various textures, lighting, shadows, and more.

And now, with the launch of Branded Effects, companies can start working with the top effects creators in TikTok to create effects for brands and online campaigns that also include specific features like: call-to-action or custom audience targeting, among others.

Brands can use Brand Effects to engage users in a number of ways, such as offering ways to actually try on a facial make-up, change hair color, make them wear a hat, put a sticker or frame on the video, use head motions to steer a car, launch Animate by scanning images, text, or real-life objects.
The company believes that the product is suitable for a group of companies, including: brands operating in areas such as: personal care, beauty, consumer packaged goods, entertainment, and retail.

TikTok says that (branding influences) also allows brands to promote their content to a broader audience through things such as paid brand traffic solutions, and they can place their influence in distinct positions on the Trending tab of the influence panel to increase visibility.

In addition, TikTok says that all of its ad formats support the display of (branding effects), and it can direct viewers to the effects page in the application, where they can then select (branding effect) with one click.

Brands can also control which safe videos appear on the impact detail page to ensure that only relevant or positive videos are shown when TikTok users are looking to influence the app to see how others are using it.

TikTok indicated in its post that Microsoft was among the companies already using effects to reach the TikTok community online.

The timing of the company’s announcement of its new product is interesting, given that the threat of a possible ban on it in the US has prompted advertisers to develop contingency plans for where to divert their marketing efforts if TikTok is no longer accessible.

As Reuters recently reported, brands and agencies have held emergency meetings, but for some who’ve seen strong performance from their TikTok ads, there’s no plan to walk away yet.

The report also cited data from Insider Intelligence claiming that TikTok’s ad revenue in the US is expected to reach $6.83 billion this year, up from $780 million in 2020.